Next, we will go ahead and create the Windows 8 VM that will be used for creating our VIAB pools. In Hyper-V Manager, select the Action menu and click New –> Virtual Machine (Also available on the right navigation window):

Click Next:

Enter a name for the VM and click Next:

Select Dynamic Memory. Click Next:

Select the Hyper-V virtual switch and click Next:

Change the VHD size to 60GB (more or less if desired, this is my recommended starting point for Windows 8) and click Next:

Select Install from ISO and browse to the location of your Windows 8 media. Normally, I will create an ISOs directory on the root of the Hyper-V server’s drive for easy access. In advance, I have copied the Windows 8 installation media to this folder. Click Next:

Click Finish:

Start and Connect to the new VM by right clicking on it in the console:

From the console, proceed with the Windows 8 installation:

As with any good cooking show, I will advance through all of the tedious screenshots of installing Windows 8. To recap the process for this initial VM build, I have performed the following:

When completed, we will leave the VM powered on so that we can proceed with the image creation process for VIAB. Select the Images section and click Add:

Select the powered on VM (Win8VIAB01 in my example), enter a new image name and optionally a description. Click Import:

Enter the local administrator username and password and click OK:

This process may take a couple minutes. Review the progress in this screen:

Hopefully the agent installed automatically. If not, you can use the instructions to guide you through manual installation. Since I had already installed all of the necessary base applications, I will go ahead and proceed to step 3 to view and verify:

Review any action items and if they are all set properly, click Yes for each item and click Done:

Click Next:

For this demo, I will select Pooled and Personal Desktops. Optionally, you can enter an Organizational Unit for computer object placement. Click Prepare when ready:

Click Confirm:

Review the progress, this typically takes several minutes:

When complete, click Connect to test out the image:

Leave the default settings and click Connect:

Enter credentials and click Log in:

Click Open to the .ica file that prompts for download:

This should open a HDX/ICA connection to the test desktop. Review the applications, and any specific settings as necessary. When done, sign off of the test desktop by clicking the username in the top right corner:

Click Cancel to return to the previous screen:

Click Save:

Click Confirm:

Review the progress, this typically takes a couple minutes:

Click Continue to proceed with creating a pool of desktops:

Enter a template name (this can be the same as the image or different if you prefer). Enter a description. Enter the computer name prefix and “000” for the suffix. Adjust the memory, CPUs, or any of the default local devices if desired. Check the box to Reset the activation timer (KMS clients) and click Next:

Enter the desired maximum and pre-started desktops (5 and 1 in my example). For this example I’ll be creating Pooled desktops with the default settings. Click Save when ready:

Click Close:

Click Continue:

On the users section, click Add next to User Groups.

I have pre-created an Active Directory security group that I will tie to this pool called VIAB-Win8VIAB-0x. Enter the appropriate AD Security Group and select the Template that was previously created to assign this template to the group. Click Save and review the assignments:

On the Desktops section, you can review the provisioning progress and monitor the desktops as they are being created:

Once desktops start to show under the “New” column, it is safe to connect as a user in the VIAB-Win8VIAB-0x Active Directory group. To do so, connect using the FQDN DNS name attached to the SSL certificate. If using a self-signed certificate, I would recommend adding the certificate chain to the Trusted Root Certificate Authority lists. Enter user credentials and click Log On:

The desktop should launch automatically. If not, click the desktop to launch:

You should now have a virtual desktop session established to the first available desktop using the Citrix Receiver!

That just about covers the initial setup using VIAB Project Curacao! Next, I will start playing around with the Windows 8 Personal vDisk feature, so there may be a follow-up post in the near future!